Reyne Haynes of Cincinnati had some thoughts on some of the things Steuben
might do to try and salvage things. I passed the thoughts on to Marie Mckee,
President of Steuben Glass. Below is her response, inviting any thoughts any of
our Club members may have on the upcoming process. I appreciate the
openness of Marie on what has to be a difficult journey. The best suggestion
yet was an unnamed source that some good Samaritan Carder Steuben collector
should step forward and put a program together to buy it. Oh, well, who knows?

Alan,
Thank you for your email. I appreciate the ideas.
We have been doing lots of co-branding. We rejected QVC because we wanted
to remain luxury. What we really need is more distribution for Steuben.
Corning has definitely decided to sell the brand. Corning is in the technology
business and not the retail business. We want to find a buyer who will increase the distribution but still keep this brand at the luxury level.
We have had several inquiries this week.
What would be helpful is to compile the suggestions from the Carder Club and
send a hard copy to me when you have everything. It would be great if the ideas
were grouped together if they are the same. For example, if 3 people nominate
QVC pls put all those suggestions together.
I would like to read the thoughts and ideas. You never know…..
Best regards,
Marie

More from Gerry Eggert:
More retail outlets are needed. On my recent morning walking tour of LaJolla, I
found not one retail outlet, nor did I find any clear Steuben Glass in any antique
shop. Nada!

From Francis Allen of Hyattsville, MD:
One suggestion would be to make it available in Museum shops. Perhaps a special
line of smaller items priced to bring it within reach of museum goers but
retaining the appeal of Steuben’s purity.

Marshall Ketchum of Florence, AZ (this time of year) observes:
I would think that once another company owns the Steuben name and trademark they could produce any kind of junk glass they pleased using the Steuben name. Something similar may have happened with Hawkes when they sold their trademark to Tiffin in the 1960s. We now see some very poor quality glass with the Hawkes name although some may be due to forged signatures.

Rod Attuck of Atlanta asks the $64 question, or is it the $640,000 question, or
$6,400,000 question or $64,000,000 question:
What price are they asking for Steuben? Perhaps the employees should by it?

Jill Kent opines:
There may be interest if Steuben reproduced some of their Carder designs

From Tommy Dreiling of Brooklyn:
Well, I have to put forth the obvious. Steuben should reintroduce color glass. Although I like some of the transparent crystal that they have been producing the last decade or so, in all honesty much of it is dated and derivative. I think Steuben has done about everything that can be done with crystal. I would start with the colored transparent crystals like Wisteria, Pomona Green and Celeste Blue. Green Jade and Rosaline are tremendously popular in the secondary market and I think Steuben would receive the same response if they revived these colors. There is so much that could be done with color. I really think it’s the only way to survive.
more to follow…